Actually, IIRC the inverse square law of radiation means you need a seriously huge field to wipe a HDD; the distance between the platter/s and the outside of the drive is enough to negate the effect of any neodymium magnet that's not too big to safely play with...

...I think - that's just off the top of my head, so you might want to check that before testing on a real HDD.

Compromising the beauty of an object by having to present it as a functional device is a real shame. So it doesn't make a good table for your electronic device, so what, it's a beautiful object on it's own. Functionality is over-rated.